I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to reclining chairs and more particularly, to mechanisms for reclining the seat of such reclining chairs.
II. Prior Art
In the prior art there exists several different types of reclining chairs. All of these reclining chairs essentially perform the same function, that is the function of reclining; however, these prior art reclining chairs all have certain deficiencies.
In particular, when the chairs recline the feet of the person seated in the chair generally rises off of the floor as the front portion of the seat rises. Such a condition is particularly undesirable in reclining chairs utilized in offices.
The reclining mechanism is usually further provided with a spring which can be adjusted for preload for varying the biasing force against the reclining motion of the chair so that the chair does not fall backward; however, this spring can be adjusted only for preload and nothing else. Preload adjustability alone does not provide the capability for equal starting positions for large and small persons and does not provide the same feel throughout the reclining travel for large and small persons. As a result, chairs with only preload adjustability are optimized essentially for only one person. As a result, the chairs which are designed for people who are heavy cannot be utilized by people who are light in weight and vice-versa.
There does exist reclining chairs in the prior art which reduce or eliminate the first above described disadvantage; however, while these prior art reclining chairs may reduce or eliminate this disadvantage, they have disadvantages of their own. Examples of such disadvantages are that they are complex in structure and difficult and expensive to manufacture and do not feel equally comfortable during reclining motion for both light and heavy persons.
Examples of prior art reclining chairs which possess one more of the above disadvantages and which may have attempted to solve some of the above described disadvantages are described in the United States issued patents as follows:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. Nos. ______________________________________ 910,357 2,479,175 2,611,420 2,616,483 2,925,122 3,856,346 4,372,608 4,386,805 4,402,546 4,529,247 4,779,925 4,804,277 4,865,385 4,889,384 4,889,385 4,911,501 5,033,791 5,046,780 ______________________________________